New York Times Book Review recommends M.T. Edvardsson's A Nearly Normal Family and lauds it as a "page-turner" that forces the reader to confront "the compromises we make with ourselves to be the people we believe our beloveds expect." (NYTimes Book Review Summer Reading Issue)

M.T. Edvardsson's A Nearly Normal Family is a gripping legal thriller that forces the listener to consider: How far would you go to protect the ones you love? In this twisted narrative of love and murder, a horrific crime makes a seemingly normal family question everything they thought they knew about their life—and one another.

Eighteen-year-old Stella Sandell stands accused of the brutal murder of a man almost fifteen years her senior. She is an ordinary teenager from an upstanding local family. What reason could she have to know a shady businessman, let alone to kill him?

Stella's father, a pastor, and mother, a criminal defense attorney, find their moral compasses tested as they defend their daughter, while struggling to understand why she is a suspect. Told in an unusual three-part structure, A Nearly Normal Family asks the questions: How well do you know your own children? How far would you go to protect them?

bioText: M. T. Edvardsson is an author and teacher from Trelleborg, Sweden. He is the author of multiple novels and books for young readers in Sweden. A Nearly Normal Family is his first novel published in the United States. He lives with his family in Löddeköpinge, Sweden.

name: M.T. Edvardsson

role: Translator

fileAs: Willson-Broyles, Rachel

name: Rachel Willson-Broyles

role: Narrator

fileAs: Watson, Emily

name: Emily Watson

role: Narrator

fileAs: Maguire, Georgia

name: Georgia Maguire

role: Narrator

fileAs: Armitage, Richard

name: Richard Armitage

publishDate

2019-06-25T00:00:00-04:00

edition

Unabridged

isOwnedByCollections

True

title

A Nearly Normal Family

fullDescription

New York Times Book Review recommends M.T. Edvardsson's A Nearly Normal Family and lauds it as a "page-turner" that forces the reader to confront "the compromises we make with ourselves to be the people we believe our beloveds expect." (NYTimes Book Review Summer Reading Issue)

M.T. Edvardsson's A Nearly Normal Family is a gripping legal thriller that forces the listener to consider: How far would you go to protect the ones you love? In this twisted narrative of love and murder, a horrific crime makes a seemingly normal family question everything they thought they knew about their life—and one another.

Eighteen-year-old Stella Sandell stands accused of the brutal murder of a man almost fifteen years her senior. She is an ordinary teenager from an upstanding local family. What reason could she have to know a shady businessman, let alone to kill him?

Stella's father, a pastor, and mother, a criminal defense attorney, find their moral compasses tested as they defend their daughter, while struggling to understand why she is a suspect. Told in an unusual three-part structure, A Nearly Normal Family asks the questions: How well do you know your own children? How far would you go to protect them?

reviews

premium: True

source:

content:

April 8, 2019Swedish author Edvardsson make his U.S. debut with an ambitious novel that focuses on the question: What would one do to save one’s child from the consequences of a horrible crime? Rebellious 18-year-old Stella Sandell has a violent temper and a penchant for getting into trouble, reflecting a need to defy her overprotective father, Adam, a Church of Sweden pastor in the town of Lund. When Stella is arrested for the murder of her lover, 33-year-old Christopher Olsen, a criminal law professor’s son with a checkered past, Adam and his lawyer wife, Ulrika, go to great lengths to help their troubled daughter. Edvardsson uses first-person narratives from Adam, Stella, and Ulrika to tell the story of the family, the crime, and the trial. This structure adds complexity and ambiguity, but the three different versions of the events result in too much repetition, dampening the suspense and weakening the denouement. This novel works better as a domestic drama than as a mystery. Agent: Astri Ahlander, Ahlander Agency (Sweden).

premium: True

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content: It is only fitting that a story about a family told in three parts should involve more than one narrator. Emily Watson, Georgia McGuire, and Richard Armitage complement each other's depictions of a dysfunctional household that is hiding secrets. Adam, a pastor, and Ulrika, a criminal defense lawyer, are stunned to hear that their teen daughter, Stella, has been arrested and accused of murdering a prestigious businessman. Armitage opens the story with a strong interpretation of Adam's views on his family and his faith, emphasizing the strict hold he has on his daughter. Watson and McGuire pair well together, voicing a mother and daughter who are parallel in tone yet befitting and distinctive. These narrators embody a family that is not so normal after all. D.Z. � AudioFile 2019, Portland, Maine

"M. T. Edvardsson has written a deceptive and riveting novel. A Nearly Normal Family will make you question everything you know about those closest to you." — Karin Slaughter, Author of 18 international bestsellers"In all the twists and turns of this year's thrillers, it turns out the most unreliable of narrators are normal parents." — Gregg Winsor, Johnson County Library

M.T. Edvardsson's A Nearly Normal Family is a gripping legal thriller that forces the listener to consider: How far would you go to protect the ones you love? In this twisted narrative of love and murder, a horrific crime makes a seemingly normal family question everything they thought they knew about their life—and one another.

Eighteen-year-old Stella Sandell stands accused of the brutal murder of a man almost fifteen years her senior. She is an ordinary teenager from an upstanding local family. What...